After last year’s failure of Proposition 2, which would have split the Alpine School District and created a new district in Orem, state Sen. Keith Grover is proposing legislation that he hopes will ease tensions when considering a such a separation in the future.

The issue isn’t unique to the Alpine School District. Grover, R-Provo, said school district splits are “highly controversial” nationwide.

“This bill is an attempt to, if it’s possible, to bring down the temperature, to de-politicize a little bit,” Grover said.

The bill won’t change how a city or citizens initiate the process of splitting a district. Its focus is to provide a trigger based on the student population where a feasibility study is automatically done and is done by a neutral party, a tension point during Proposition 2.

Proposition 2 was voted on during the 2022 election and asked voters to approve a split from Alpine School District to create an Orem school district. Just over 71% voted against the proposal.

Under the planned legislation, a feasibility study would be done by the state auditor’s office, Grover said. That study would consider the financial viability and impact of a new district and the tax burden on citizens in the proposed district.

While Proposition 2 was being considered last year, Orem City contracted with DEC Consulting to conduct a feasibility study to address it, which found a split was “financially feasible.”

During a September meeting of the Alpine school board, Superintendent Shane Farnsworth said the district has contracted with a Flordia firm, MGT Education, to conduct a study on district reconfiguration. The study is currently underway.

Grover said the legislation would trigger a feasibility study when a district reaches about 30,000 or 40,000 students, but the number is flexible. Alpine School District currently enrolls about 84,000 students, according to the district.

Grover hopes by creating a process to get a feasibility study out in front, that information can drive the conversation rather than “political motivations.” For example, he said, a factor in considering Proposition 2 was concerns about ASD putting more resources into schools up north rather than in Orem, but that message “got lost in all the other Orem City inner politics.”

The process for initiating a school district split remains the same, Grover stressed. According to the Utah code, the process can begin in three ways — a citizens’ initiative petition, a request from the school board or a request from a city in the district’s boundaries.

The bill also would require a 20-day public comment period on a feasibility study and change the combined student population required for a new district to a minimum of 5,000. The current law prohibits new districts from having fewer than 3,000 students. It also would allow for a special election to be called to elect new school board members, according to draft language presented during the September education interim committee meeting.

Generally, Grover said his fellow lawmakers have been supportive of the bill and he’s optimistic about it.

“If any lawmakers live along, let’s say, from Ogden south to Spanish Fork and then probably St. George, those lawmakers are the most interested because those are the ones who would be impacted,” he said.

The bill will be considered during the upcoming legislative session, which begins on Jan. 16.

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